Hair curling irons and curling brushes are well known in the prior art. Most conventional curling irons utilize a smooth, elongated tubular barrel secured to a handle, with a heating element inside the tube. An unheated clamp extends along a portion of the barrel for the purpose of clamping or holding sections of hair against the round barrel. Heat that is transferred from the heating element to the barrel causes hair which is wrapped around the barrel to retain a curl after the hair is removed from the curling iron. This type of device is used primarily to create "flat" or spiral curls which mimic the effect of a roller set. However, the curls are somewhat flat and ribbon-like. Also, the clamp on the curling iron tends to crimp hair at its edges, which is an undesired look. Flat hair styling irons are also known which are used to straighten hair with no curvature. A known drawback of these devices is that only flat, pressed hair is obtained, which looks unnatural.
Heated hair curling brushes use a barrel that has elongated teeth to catch and comb the hair while the hair is being curled. Since they usually do not have a clamp, curling brushes do not produce the sharp ribbon-like curls of a curling iron, and tend to make soft curls or styles. The teeth on the barrel reduce clumping by separating the hair strands, and because of the absence of the clamp, the crimping effect of curling irons is alleviated. One drawback of a curling brush is the inability to press naturally curly hair for straightening purposes.
While conventional curling irons provide virtually complete control over the styled hair, as far as providing the stylist the desired results, curling brushes do not provide such control. In fact, the stylist has no control as to exactly how the hair will look after being styled with a curling brush.
Another conventional hair styling device is known as a crimper and is used for straightening curly hair. Crimpers include a pair of opposed, flat, heated surfaces which are pressed together with a section of hair in between to be straightened. A disadvantage of crimpers is that they provide an unnatural "pressed" look to the hair.
Thus, there is a need for a hair styling device which allows the user or stylist to selectively introduce natural-type soft curls, or to press curly hair for straightening or subsequent styling of the hair.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved hair styling device which provides the stylist with more control over the styled hair.
Another object is to provide a new and improved hair styling device which provides the natural soft curl a curling brush provides, while also having the ability to either curl or straighten the hair as the user desires, and to provide a natural looking heat-treated hairstyle.